Texas Stars Weekly Update - Jan. 16, 2017

Stars Continue Busy Stretch with Four Games this Week

CEDAR PARK, Texas – The Texas Stars continue their busy stretch with four games this week beginning Monday afternoon against San Antonio.

-- THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE --

January 16 at 3 p.m. CST at San Antonio Rampage:
The Texas Stars and San Antonio Rampage meet for the sixth of 14 total matchups this season in the 2016-17 edition of the I-35 Rivalry. Texas has won four of the six meetings so far this season, and outscored San Antonio 17-14. Four of the six meetings have been decided by a goal between the two in-state rivals, including one in overtime. The Stars are coming off back-to-back losses over the weekend while the Rampage are on a four-game winless skid (0-3-1-0).

January 18 at 7:30 p.m. CST vs. Manitoba Moose:
The Texas Stars and Manitoba Moose meet for the third time this season on Wednesday. The two clubs split the first two meetings this season with the Stars beating the Moose 6-1 in the series opener, and the Moose taking the second game 5-4. Texas Captain Travis Morin leads all skaters in the series with four points (2-2=4) while Dan DeSalvo leads Manitoba with two goals and three points against the Stars.

January 20 and January 21 at 7 p.m. CST at Iowa Wild:
The Texas Stars and Iowa Wild meet for the first and second matchups of a four-game series this season on Friday and Saturday evening. Both teams took home a pair of wins during the 2015-16 season series. Iowa forward Christoph Bertschy (0-5=5) and Stars forward Justin Dowling (1-4=5) led all skaters in last year’s series with five points each.

-- LAST WEEK’S RESULTS --

January 11 at Ontario Reign, 3-1 Win:
Matej Stranksy buried the game-winner early in period three and the Texas Stars defense held up the rest of the way to pull out a 3-1 road win over the first-place Ontario Reign on Wednesday night at Citizens Business Bank Arena. It was the Stars’ first road win over Ontario in franchise history. Maxime Lagace stopped 21 of 22 shots in net to earn his 11th win of the season for Texas. Brendan Ranford (goal, assist) and Gemel Smith (two assists) each tallied multi-point games for the Stars. With the win, Texas finished their season series taking three of four games against the Reign.

January 13 at Tucson Roadrunners, 5-3 Loss:
Brandon DeFazio tallied the first hat trick of the season, but it was not enough on Saturday night as the Texas Stars fell to the Tucson Roadrunners by a 5-3 final at Tucson Arena. The Stars and Roadrunners combined for five power play goals in the contest, and a five-goal second period. After snapping a 0-for-19 drought on the power play Wednesday in Ontario, Texas struck three times on the man-advantage in the losing effort.

January 14 at Tucson Roadrunners, 3-2 Loss:
For the second straight night the Texas Stars vastly outshot the Tucson Roadrunners but came up short in a 3-2 final at Tucson Arena on Saturday night. Julius Honka and Matej Stransky scored for the Stars. Texas outshot the Roadrunners 38-19 in the game after putting up 40 shots on net in Friday’s matchup. Tucson scored all three goals in period one before holding off Texas’ comeback efforts through the final 40 minutes of play.

-- NEWS, NOTES AND UPCOMING MILESTONES --

Monday’s game against San Antonio will be the 91st all-time regular season meeting between the two in-state rivals. Brandon DeFazio’s hat trick on Friday at Tucson was the first by a Stars player since Jan. 16, 2016, when Brendan Ranford scored three times in San Diego. Last week, Julius Honka was named as the Stars’ representative at the 2017 AHL All-Star Classic in Lehigh Valley, Penn. at the end of January. Denis Gurianov returned to the team last week after competing in the annual World Junior Championships for his native Russia, where he won the bronze medal.

-- UPCOMING PROMOTIONS --

Wednesday against Manitoba is a Winning Wednesday. Fans with a ticket stub from the Stars’ win over the San Antonio Rampage on Dec. 21 can receive a free ticket at the box office for the Jan. 18 game. If the Stars win over Manitoba, fans can redeem those tickets stubs for a free ticket to the team’s next Wednesday game on March 8 against Grand Rapids.

Jan. 18 is also an H-E-B Night where fans can receive a $5 discount off their ticket purchase when they donate an H-E-B-branded, non-perishable food item at the box office.

The Texas Stars are the primary development affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, and are currently in their eighth season at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. Full season, 24-game, 12-game and six-game ticket packages for the 2016-17 campaign are on sale now. For more information, call (512) GO-STARS (467-8277) or visit TexasStars.com.